Dark imperium Episode 2: Learning curve
by menofwarhide
Summary: Alistravia agrees to check on star system that has fallen silent for the high lords and runs into a powerful opponent while Rebus tries to teach Kalia how to shoot.


Dark imperium

Episode 2:

Learning curve

Five Estrellan war ships shot through the wormhole at speed, they had been travelling since the day after Alistravia was given stewardship of the imperial throne. The two forward destroyers The "Odysseus and The mermaid" were older craft and had been in service since the first days of the crusades whilst the two battle cruisers at the rear "The black rudder and The Ishmael" were newer and had seen very little action but of course the ship they were escorting had seen much in the way of war even before it changed from the "Ahab's rage" to the "Pequad". It sat at the centre of the formation. Aboard it a young girl aimed down the sight of a pistol and fired.

The shot went wide of the target and her tutor sighed again.

"Do you even listen to what I am saying" Rebus said

"I keep telling you I am not good with guns!" Kalia shot back

"that excuse would hold more water if we hadn't been trying for six weeks!" Rebus said as the holo target reset it's position

As a veteran and captain of the 7th rebus had been assigned to give Kalia some basic instruction in shooting but she was finding it rather difficult and he was growing impatient. Kalia had struggled since he first handed her a simple las pistol.

Rebus was young for a veteran captain but he had been around since the crusades and was young compared to Gerik who was the captain of the 6th, rebus showed little in the way of age apart from some darkening to his typical golden blonde Estrellan hair and his clean shave compared to Gerik who had darker hair and a greyish blonde beard.

"One more time" rebus said

Kalia extended her arms but she couldn't keep them straight and again the shot veered off away from the target.

"I though we discussed keeping your arms straight so why do you always... wobble, for lack of a better word"

"I just don't want to have to kill" Kalia said in response

Rebus sighed.

"Its not about killing it's about being able to defend yourself should the need arise, I don't know if you've noticed but most of the galaxy is at war and learning to at least shoot in the direction of the enemy might save your life"

He ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

"let's leave it for today, I need to think of a new way to teach you"

Alistravia had been stood for hours arguing with the high lords of Terra. The council of the twelve highest ranking officials of the imperium stood in a semi circle around her. For ten millennia they had supposedly been interpreting the will of the emperor but now Alistravia was sitting on the throne until he was able to return in some fashion.

This initially had not caused any friction until Alistravia had appointed Sankara as her eyes and ears on Terra and now the council had become upset that he had scalded them on Alistravia's behalf for failing to keep control of some sub sectors and allowing rebellion to arise.

" _we do not disagree with your appointment of your equerry as your hand as that will help us better commune with yourself but you can not expect us to manage an imperium so vast without complications, communication between systems takes a long time and responding can take even longer so if you wish to bring these sectors into line I suggest you do so yourself"_

A few of the lords nodded in agreement.

" _and we are still in agreement that you should not of left Terra so soon after your appointment, we have many issues that a skilled diplomat like yourself could assist in resolving not to mention if you are located by the enemy they will likely try to kill you"_

Alistravia sighed and nodded.

"My lords we have been going back and forth on this for hours but let me remind you I have returned to find several of my brothers dead and I feel it is only right as their sister to pay my respects to their sons by visiting Baal and Medusa to start with, I can appreciate that you are upset by my departing so quickly but if you have anything urgent that you feel I should attend to then I will provide you with a direct link and I will endeavour to resolve the issues from my current location but I will visit these legion home-worlds first and as for those sub sectors" Alistravia leaned into the images of the lords with an authoritative stare "something could have been done about them a long time ago and yet you refused to help" She stopped to take a breath "... but I do understand resources are not infinite and we will discuss resource attribution at a later date but for now let us stop arguing as it is getting us no where"

The lords nodded in agreement.

" _very well my lady but if you do wish to assist us there is something you could do to while you are still several weeks out from Baal"_

"I am listening" Alistravia responded 

" _we have lost contact with a system close to Baal, it is too far away from the front to be connected with Abbadon's crusade and there has been no reported unusual activity in the sector"_

"Rebellion or a rouge traitor fleet perhaps?" Alistravia questioned

" _rebellions tend to be quite vocal about gaining their independence and a traitor fleet would not of stopped at one star system"_ one of the other lords said

"and you did not dispatch anyone sooner?"

" _we did"_ Said one of the lords who had yet to speak _"but we had no response from the fleet we sent and did not want to risk a similar fate for another but you stand a greater chance of solving this mystery"_

"so you spend several days angry at me because I left Terra and might be putting myself in danger but now your tasking me to go investigate a mystery that might of already caused the destruction of one of your fleets"

" _the irony is not lost on us honoured primarch, but you did state that the emperor has tasked you with repairing the imperium and I believe this would count as such a repair, consider it a starting point however if the situation requires more attention than you can provide alone we can assist"_

Alistravia nodded.

"you make a fine point but if that's the case then I should not come back to Terra unless it is urgent, my father did not want me to just sit on the throne and this will satisfy both our ends, you can continue to run the day to day operations and Sankara can keep me updated and pass on any messages"

" _that seams satisfactory but we would like regular communion with yourself , you are for all intensive purposes empress no matter how temporary it may be"_

Some of the other lords nodded.

" _the fabricator general also requests a meeting at your earliest connivance"_ one of the other lords said

"I will speak with him soon but if you have no more items you wish to discuss then I believe this meeting is at an end, please forward any information you have on your lost system and I will contact you once I have discovered what happened"

In order to change course the five ships had to drop out of the wormhole and regenerate another towards their new destination. This took several days as the wormhole had to be destabilized to cause it to end before it's destination then a new wormhole had to be created which could not be done straight away as the disruption to space caused by exiting the old wormhole took time to stabilise but after four days they were on route to the star system indicated as needing assistance by the high lords.

Rebus was sat in the communal arming chamber cleaning his bolter, each piece had been individually removed and laid out and now he was carefully cleaning them bit by bit. He could of used one of the drones to do it for him but his mood was one of such frustration he needed the tactile feel of each piece to provide the catharsis needed to quell his frustrated mind.

Gerik came into the hall carrying a sword, it was a beautiful well crafted ornamental thing and he came and sat down at the work bench next to rebus and laid in on the table. It was a medium length sword with beautiful etched patterns that started at the hilt all the way to the curved tip where a razor edge could be seen. Rebus eyed with curiosity.

"The sword Lucius gave to you when we went into exile?"

Gerik nodded.

"I had always hopped to use it when we returned but I am conflicted, he is a traitor now and using this sword might send the wrong signals"

"you should speak to mother then, she has some weapons from the traitor primarchs... see how she feels?" Rebus responded as he picked up another piece of his bolter and started cleaning it

Gerik looked at the stripped down bolter.

"you only ever do this when your angry, Kalia still missing easy shots?"

"I could stand her a few inches away from the target and she would still miss, no matter what I do she can not shoot straight!" rebus responded angrily

"Perhaps she needs to learn the hard way" Gerik said

Rebus didn't look to Gerik but picked up another part of his bolter.

"how do you mean?"

"programme a drone to attack her"

"I tried having an advancing drone approach her but she still missed" Rebus responded and Gerik shook his head

"then you need to amp up the danger factor..., anyway I think I will take your advice and go see mother, I suggest you think about my suggestion for Kalia"

"I will, thanks Gerik"

Alistravia was stood going over the information the high lords had sent when she heard a short knock on the wall.

"mother, do you have a minute?"

Alistravia turned round to her son with a beaming smile.

"I always have time for you Gerik, what did Rebus do this time?"

Gerik smiled back, it had become a running joke that when ever Rebus did something crazy he would cover for him. At first back in the crusades it had been annoying but now it was more a term of endearment.

"Nothing ….yet, I wanted to ask you about this" Gerik said revealing the sword Lucius had given him

Alistravia walked over and took the blade from him, she twirled it around in her hands a few times and made a couple of quick swipes with it before handing it back to him.

"A curious sword did Fulgrim give it to you?" Alistravia said knowing Gerik had learned much about sword play from the primarch of the 3rd as well as Lucius

"No it was Lucius who gave this to me the day we left for exile, but I am unsure about using it given that he is a traitor now and it may send the wrong message"

Alistravia nodded in response.

"come with me" she said

They left Alistravia's chambers and proceeded to her personal arming room where the sarcophagus containing her armour stood in the centre of a circular room surrounded by neon white walls with antigravity wall mounts each holding a different weapon. Some were basic rifles and pistols but others were more ornate and then there were larger weapons like missile or grenade launchers but all were varied and no two were really alike. Alistravia had used the majority of them at sometime either before or after the legions founding and they all had a story behind their origin. Near the centre of the room close to the sarcophagus were several smaller neon plinths each with a unique weapon on. One held a small dagger with a turtle shelled design on it's hilt and it's neon antigravity unit bore the symbol of the third legion, next to it was a stand with the symbol or the 16th and it held a small revolver styled heavy pistol. Next to that was the unit holding a grenade launcher with a symbol of the 4th and beside it the stand showing the symbol of the 10th legion was empty. " _Tide splitter"_ had been forged by the Gorgon himself and given to Alistravia but as she was not proficient with swords she had allowed Kyros to wield it. The other plinths held a weapons, even the spear given to Alistravia by the storm lord stood proud along side the other weapons given to her by her brothers.

Alistravia walked over to the revolver and took it from it's hold.

"do you remember the campaign when Horus gave this to me?"

"It was my first battle as captain and the first time he spoke to me, I never expected to be asked my opinion on something by another primarch" Gerik responded

Alistravia nodded.

"He found this weapon in a vault under the main city, too small for his hands but a perfect fit for mine, he truly was the greatest of all of us" Alistravia looked at the weapon as if locked in a memory of pain and Gerik could see the tears forming before Alistravia looked up from the gun to him

"I intend to use this weapon Gerik because this was not given to me by a traitor and neither was your sword, we should use these weapons to remind the those that betrayed their oaths that their fathers were once loyal and by striking them down with these weapons we send a message that we will be victorious"

Gerik nodded as she continued.

"many of you forged bonds of brotherhood with those that betrayed my father and it will be hard not to get lost in the memories of the old days but they turned their backs on the imperium and they must be destroyed so take that sword and kill every traitor and xenos that gets in your way, it may have been forged by the emperors children but it's your sword and using it will bring glory to the legion and yourself"

Gerik stood proud and puffed out his chest, his mothers words as always were inspiring and gave him strength.

"I will not let you down, thank you mother"

"no Gerik thank you" Alistravia responded "I needed to settle this conflict in my mind as much as you, I will send word to all my sons that any weapon they had given to them by the traitor legions before their betrayal is not forbidden but encouraged and..."

" _my lady we are about to enter the star system indicated by the high lords"_

The admirals voice said.

"understood" Alistravia responded

The moment the ships exited the wormhole distorted gravity rolled over them. The star in the distance had three planets orbiting. The second planet from the sun was an imperial world with a population of 93 billion but on the surface great fires could be seen and entire city's appeared lifeless. Scans of the planet came back as showing some human life signs still active but no sign of attack directly on the surface and several of the defence stations tracked the fleet as they moved close.

"What happened here" Kalia said as she watched from the command throne where Alistravia was seated

She had donned some light armour and was carrying her two phased volkite pistols moulded from shells at her waist. Kalia's hand brushed against her own side arm, despite the fact she did not yet know how to shoot all that well she was required to carry a side arm like the rest of the crew who unlike her seamed unmoved by the state of the planet.

"any comms with the surface?" Alistravia asked

"none at all" the admiral responded "but we are getting strange readings from this systems star"

Alistravia nodded.

"Rebus report to the bridge"

" _acknowledged"_

Alistravia turned her attention back to the system.

"can you locate the imperial fleet that was dispatched here"

The admiral nodded and looked over the system scans.

"there's the wreckage of several imperial cruisers closer to the star and..."

"and what?" Alistravia asked

"and several other ships not of imperial design"

"show me" Alistravia said and the oculus shifted to a space beyond the wrecked imperial fleet.

Against the back drop of the burning star four ships could be seen one of the ships had a large pyramid structure etched in gold and neon green and it's forward sections in the shape of a crescent moon, it appeared to have suffered tremendous damage and was using some kind of beam on the star and as it continued to project that beam parts of the ship appeared to be regenerating.

Alistravia stood up.

"that is a Necrontyr tomb ship" Kalia said "I saw a picture of one in the briefing data slates you had me categorize"

The admiral accessed a few data files and nodded.

"Confirmed imperial data banks agree with your assessment, the other three ships are all shroud class light cruisers and I am detecting several fighter wings"

Rebus had just entered the bridge as the conversation continued.

"admiral what information do we have on fleet encounters?" Alistravia asked

"the first major encounter was in the Yuctan system, the Necrontyr were engaged by a fleet of dauntless class destroyers... only one ship survived and the Necrontyr were gone by the time a larger response was organized, there have been twenty seven recorded encounters since them including reports of engagements with traitor, Eldar and ork fleets... it would appear superior numbers are needed to inflict any kind of defeat"

"thank goodness we have more ships then" Kalia said

"the imperial fleet that was sent here was made up of twelve ships and was defeated, we simply out number them by one" The admiral responded as Rebus approached

"you called for me mother?" he said

Alistravia turned to face him, like all Estrellan's Rebus was a scientist despite being a space marine, just as Fulgrim's sons had dabbled in art and poetry the 2nd researched and created new technology, Rebus was known to be the best warrior in the legion when it came to particle astrophysics.

"find out what the Necrontyr are doing to that star"

Rebus nodded and sat down at one of the consoles. Kalia watched as he worked at an extremely fast rate using the four dimensional operating system that she still found gave her headaches despite her more frequent exposure and use of it. Rebus swing him self around on the seat and approached the primarch.

"The starts core energy is being drained by some kind divergent tachyon beam but the technology is beyond me, to drain a star of it's life energy must take tremendous power"

"is that what has caused damage to the imperial world?" Kalia asked

Rebus nodded.

"the disruption to the stars normal life cycle has accelerated it's decay and it has likely caused massive radiation and gravity anomaly's causing damage to the planet, soon it will pass the point of no return causing a super nova... then this entire sector will be disrupted"

"Rebus that prototype solar re-igniter you were working on, can it bring the star back to health?" Alistravia asked

"It's not been field tested and it was designed to recover dead stars not still active ones but in theory it should stabilise it allowing natural recovery as long as that tachyon beam desists and I doubt the xenos will cease it as it appears to be regenerating their ship"

Alistravia nodded and took her seat on the command throne.

"Rebus start work on the re-igniter and get it ready to be deployed, admiral bring all ships to battle stations... we will target the tomb ship and attempt to destroy the beam emitter"

All five ships changed formation as they approached the Necrontyr fleet that also adjusted it's position. Their fighter wings moved forward and two of the cruisers whilst the third hung back covering the damaged tomb ship which continued to drain the star. The two fleets were still out of weapons range of each other and surged forward towards confrontation.

"admiral have the escorts occupy those cruisers and get get us a direct shot on the tomb ship"

"Acknowledged" she responded

"The odyssey" and "the Black Rudder lurched left making a beeline for the shroud cruiser whilst the "the mermaid" and "the Ishmael" went right. Torpedoes and las fire erupted from their forward guns as they entered weapons range but the Necrontyr ships absorbed the damage into their shields and then responded with a return of green energy fire that ripped into the shields of the escorts, initially it appeared as if the two fleets were evenly matched neither inflicting any serious damage but the Necrontyr ships were barley phased by the continuous fire whilst the Estrellan vessels struggled to handle the return salvo's.

"My lady all escorts report shields are being drained" the admiral said as the third Necrontyr cruiser placed it's self in the way of the "Pequad"

The ships lights and consoles flickered as they came in range of the last enemy cruiser.

"our power is being drained, shields are failing" a shout came from one of the officers

Then in a flash of green several Necrontyr warriors appeared on the bridge. Alistravia drew her pistols and put multiple volkite beams through the closest which fell to the ground smoking, the maidens shield and combat drones were engaging the rest but the gauss weapons they carried ripped through the armour of one maidens shield warrior and one of the crab drones. Two of the Necrontyr warriors died from mass bolter fire as Alistravia jumped into the weapons station where one of the Necrontyr was attempting to destroy it. She grabbed the creature by it's Gauss gun and was surprised by it's sheer strength in being able to hold on, it let out a blast that she barley dodged so she swept it's legs to bring it down to the ground but the thing kept fighting and used the Gauss gun as a bat to knock her aside.

"mother" one of the terminators shouted and threw a power harpoon towards her

It landed just short of her as the Necrontyr warrior pushed its self to it's feet. Alistravia ran, picked up the harpoon activating the power field and threw at the Necrontyr. It pierced it's chest but surprisingly it still lived but not for long as the beam of a lass cannon hit it square in the chest blowing it apart.

The rest of the Necrontyr were either wounded or grappling with the Maidens shield, Alistravia accessed the weapons console for the ship.

"Escorts report damage to the ships, they can not last and neither can we with this power drain" The admiral shouted as she let off a few rounds at a Necrontyr warrior crawling along the ground

"do we have enough power to fire the phase cannon?" Alistravia asked

"Yes but how much power do you want to use?" She responded

"All of it" Alistravia said rerouteing all the power from every system except life support

"If we do that we won't have enough power left to continue to fight let alone assault the tomb ship" the admiral said rushing to help an injured crew member

"right now I am just trying to not lose the whole fleet, all power has been rerouted to forward nodes, firing!"

The Necrontyr cruiser had yet to fire, it hadn't had too simply because the power drain had done it's job so it had no reason to do anything when all the nodes on the front of the Pequad began to light up, one by one they passed power to the front of the ship where energy built up. The Necrontyr ship began to move position as it realized the threat but it was too late and even it's advanced shields couldn't save it from the Pequad's focused energy. For a split second a green sphere appeared around the cruiser then that shattered and the the beam sliced through it causing the Necrontyr ship to explode. Instantly the rest of it's fellows reacted withdrawing from their engagement with the Pequad's escorts and making with all speed to protect the tomb ship which would have been vulnerable except for the fact the Pequad was already retreating back taking her escorts with her. "The Black Rudder" had taken heavy damage and was limping behind the rest of the fleet but the Necrontyr ships did not pursue letting the Estrellan vessels put plenty of space between them.

"damage report" Alistravia said as she sat back in the throne

"Power is returning and no Necrontyr remain on the ship but they caused damage to the engineering sub structure and several hull breeches, seals are in place and repair drones are working at max capacity to fix all systems, we lost life support on decks fifty six and fifty seven and they have been sealed off, the Black Rudder took several hits and needs at least two days to repair"

"tell them to send drones to break down the wreckage of the imperial fleet for resources, what about the other ships?" Alistravia asked

"minor damage but recovery time due to the power drain will be expanded"

"Rebus what's the status of the re-igniter?" Alistravia voxed

" _I have adjusted it's systems but it will be useless unless we remove that tomb ship and the star has three days at most before it reaches a point of no return and then we would need to leave the system before it goes nova"_

"understood" Alistravia responded turning to the admiral "keep us at a safe distance and send a cloaked drone to spy on what the Necrontyr fleet is doing, I want a tactical briefing in six hours and speed up the repairs to all ships as best you can"

"As you will it" the admiral said bowing as she left the bridge

Rebus heard someone enter his stellar cartography lab and turned to see Kalia.

"I wanted to see if you needed anything" she said and he sighed

"Your lying, your here because you think it's safer with me if the Necrontyr board us again...it's not" he eyed her up and down before turning back to the screens streaming data "did you even draw your weapon?"

Kalia stomped her feet in frustration of the question and walked over to the side of the desk Rebus was stood by.

"you know it might be easy for you to simply draw your weapon and fire but your a space marine, that's your job but mine is simply to record and organise information, firing a gun is the last thing I should know how to do!" she said raising her voice

"you realise in any other legion raising your voice to an astartes could see you dead... and again how can you live in a galaxy where everything is out to kill you and not know the simple basics to firing a gun, perhaps I should tell mother to find another assistant, one who will not shy away from a fight" Rebus responded

"I am a descendant of her son she is not just going to toss me aside" Kalia said getting annoyed by Rebus's lack of interest in her opinion

"then you don't know mother all that well if you think she wouldn't do that"

Rebus walked away to another screen and began looking at a new stream of data, Kalia got annoyed and followed him.

"You know what I bet not every human in the galaxy knows how to shoot so why should I be condemned for not knowing?"

Rebus slammed his hand down on a desk making Kalia jump.

"Because this is a warship not a cruse liner! do you think the Necrontyr care if your just a script recorder? To them your just another human life to be snuffed out" He rounded on her and stepped closer "everyone aboard this ship is required to defend it if boarded but if you can't preform that task you should leave and go back to recording sermons and prayers to your fake god"

"you know what, only the traitors call the emperor a false god and right now you..." Kalia stopped her self when she noticed Rebus had drawn his bolt pistol

She panicked and retreated back to the door as he advanced.

"I am sorry Rebus I didn't mean to infer you were a traitor I just meant that..."

"get out and don't let me see you again...EVER!"

Kalia heard the doors open behind her and she ran not looking behind her to see if Rebus was perusing, she ran until she was back at her quarters where she sealed the door...

The fleet had taken shelter within the cover of what remained of the satellite defences of the imperial world, after a few hours in orbit contact had been established with what remained of the planets governing body and supplies were being ferried down to assist.

The radiation had killed off most of the population and only a few hundred thousand people remained deep within the hills that were mined regularly for a particular metal that was excellent at shielding radiation but the planet was close to uninhabitable which wouldn't matter if the star got close enough to go nova anyway.

The briefing was held on the bridge with holo image of the planets governor also attending, Rebus was stood with Alistravia and the Admiral was next to him.

" _we have had to put another group of rioters down but we lost six men doing it... if we don't get off this planet soon there's going to be no one left to evacuate"_

"A fleet has been requested but it will take several weeks from it's current position to arrive"

" _My lady if you were to send a company of marines to keep security we could..."_

"If the Necrontyr board my ships again... and they will then I need every astartes I have to defend against them, I can appreciate you are struggling governor but personally I think deploying marines would stir up more violence than it would prevent" Alistravia said

" _people are dying down here"_ The governor responded

"People are dying everywhere and if that Necrontyr fleet is allowed to go unchecked then even more will die on other worlds and I will not be responsible for that!"

Alistravia's sharp cut back silenced the governors response and he simply bowed to acknowledge his acceptance.

"Admiral do we know who caused damage to that Necrontyr tomb ship originally?"

"scans show the impact from an Ork Kroosier, I doubt the Necrontyr fleet was ambushed by the Green-skins but for one reason or another they ran a foul of the beasts, I believe they were rammed by the ship when the Orks attempted to board her" she said as holo images of the Necrontyr vessel were projected

"status on repairs?" Alistravia asked

"The Black Rudder will be back to operational status in twelve hours, the other ships are repaired enough to be ready to attack on your order"

" _your planning to attack them again?"_ the governor asked in disbelief

"The Necrontyr must be destroyed or at most chased away from this sector and with that in mind a plan has been formulated" Alistravia responded

The governor starred in silence at Alistravia for so long the admiral actually checked the signal had not been lost.

" _Is this why you will no deploy any marines to the surface? Because you plan another suicidal attempt to fight the Necron? Do the lives of the imperial citizens mean nothing to to you and you would rather fight the Necron than protect us?"_

"the Necrontyr are not attacking you and likely will not as their primary goal seams to be to repair and then move on and how dare you suggest I care nothing for imperial lives!" Alistravia's voice raised as she continued "I am going after the Necrontyr because they are a threat to the trillions of of other imperial lives in the galaxy, if a few hundred thousand are sacrificed to protect trillions of others then I that is the decision I will take and since you are in no immediate danger I must go with what will better ensure the safety of other imperial worlds"

The governor seamed taken back by the way Alistravia spoke to him but before he could say anything Rebus spoke up.

"governor if that star goes nova it will destabilise this entire sector and have a negative effect on space travel meaning star systems will not be able to conduct trade and sector patrol fleets will be unable to respond to any threats which could be disastrous if this sub sector came under assault, we can not undo the damage to the planet but we can stabilise the star which is the most important issue"

" _Do not talk down to me captain, you have no right to be telling me what is and is not more important, why is he even here!?"_

Alistravia stepped forward through the central holo image towards the governor until she was was right in front of him, as he stared up at her and even through his grainy holo image he could be seen shaking and swallowing a lump in his throat.

"He is here because I asked him to be and that is all you need to know, insult him again and I will end this argument with a planetary bombardment killing you and taking the issue of your lives off my list of concerns"

The governor was now shaking so hard it actually caused his holo image to blur. The sweat dripping down his face was interesting to watch and the admiral wondered if was caused by the rising temperatures on the planet or the fact he was locking eyes with a primarch.

"I know what you thinking" Alistravia said as she loomed over him "your thinking if my brother was here he wouldn't be so callous about imperial lives but your wrong, like me he would see the bigger picture and likely make the same decisions... though not necessarily in the same order"

The governor said nothing and shrunk under Alistravia's gaze. She calmly walked back to her original position and sighed.

"I realize that most humans have not had the experience of dealing with a primarch for a long time but your going to have to learn your place fast if you want to survive, believe me you do not want to get on the wrong side of any of my other brothers should they return because their not all as diplomatic as me... now lets get back to the briefing" she said as she turned to the admiral "do you have a way to counter the power drain enacted on our ships?"

"I believe we can reduce the speed of the drain by bypassing the primary power core and using the backups first but it won't last that long, however if we strike fast enough we should be able to destroy the two cruisers quickly to prevent major loss and allow us to directly attack the tomb ship hopefully with enough power left to destroy it" she responded "at best we may be able to force it to retreat but having never fought a tomb ship before I can not guarantee success"

"Rebus the status of the re-igniter?"

"it's ready to be deployed once we remove the Necrontyr, I've done what I can to modify it for an active star but can not say if it will work or not since it's original purpose was to ignite dead stars"

"I've devised an overall tactical plan that should give us the best chance of victory" The admiral said as the holo image switched to show indicators of both the Necrontyr and Estrellan fleet "we will have to focus down one cruiser at a time as I do not think we can risk splitting up the fleet again so all four escorts will follow the Pequad in as she targets the first cruiser, we can use the phase cannon again, once we knock out the first we can take out the second, I believe with focused fire eventually the Necrontyr ships shields will collapse but speed will be of the essence"

"Very good" Alistravia said "does anyone else have any comments?" she said looking directly at the governor

He bowed to hide his fear.

" _No honoured primarch"_

Alistravia shut down the tactical holo image.

"the attack will commence once the "Black Rudder" is back to battle reediness... Dismissed"

As Alistravia was leaving the bridge Rebus approached.

"mother may I speak to you in private..."

Kalia was in Alistravia's quarters categorizing several documents when Alistravia entered, she eyed Kalia with some ire before approaching as she sat working away at the desk.

"Those could of waited until we were done with this situation" Alistravia said

"I wanted to keep busy" Kalia said

Alistravia watched as she quietly navigated through the documents, the frustration and fear of her face were easy for a Primarch to read. Had she not of spoken with Rebus she might of of put it down to the Necrontyr but she knew different.

"Kalia do you want to be here?"

Kalia stopped and looked over her face a mess of emotion as she regarded the primarch.

"yes" she said sheepishly

"Yet you have no learnt how to shoot, a basic requirement of all the crew"

Alistravia let the statement hang in the air for a few moments before continuing.

"and there is also the matter of how you speak to the astartes aboard this ship!... we are not as formal as some legions but some level of respect must be given"

Kalia's eyes opened wide and a look of shock came over her.

"He told you!" she exclaimed

"Of course he did, he's a senior captain aboard this vessel and he is concerned about ship safety!" Alistravia shot back

"he tried to kill me"

"oh please you were never in any real danger" Alistravia said waving her hand dismissively

Kalia looked upset and shook her head.

"you were not there, he was really angry with me"

"but he would never of killed you because he had no reason to" Alistravia responded

"he drew his weapon and..."

"because he was hoping you would draw yours and shoot him!" Alistravia interrupted

The shot of truth came to Kalia and she replayed the even in her head, it was obvious now. The way Rebus had purposely driven her to become angrier and say something stupid.

"I could of injured him though"

"your side arm would barley scratch his armour but you did nothing... so the question comes back to if you want to be here because if you do then you better learn fast... now if you don't mind I'd like some private time before the battle"

Kalia stood up and bowed.

"of course"

Kalia had just reached the door when Alistravia called her name.

"Kalia!"

She turned round Alistravia wasn't facing her.

"Infer one of my sons is a traitor again and I will break your neck"

She did not need to see Alistravia's face to know how serious she was, Kalia's own mind screamed danger at her and she had been on the ship long enough to know when Alistravia was serious, she decided not to respond and simply left.

The fleet lined up in formation as it approached the tomb ship and it's remaining escorts. From a distance "the Pequad" looked like a whale of old being followed by fish who would pick food out of it's teeth. "the Pequad" was a leviathan of a ship and despite it's escorts being large vessels themselves next to her they looked like little minnows trying to keep up with a larger beast.

The two enemy cruisers reacted quickly as they approached staying close to each other but moving towards the approaching Estrellan vessels.

On the bridge of the Pequad Alistravia sat fully armoured this time with large rifle sat next to the command throne. It hummed with power as it rested, they knew it was likely they would be boarded again and this time better preparations had been made with marines and drones moving about the ship in squad formation covering every deck. Terminators were sent to watch the engine room and as always the maidens shield stayed close to the primarch.

"should we of awoken Kelsey?" Velar Breton said as he watched the view from the bridge

He had been the first captain of the 2nd until the emperor had found Alistravia and she had renamed the legion. During the crusades he had been lore master and Carin's personal guardian until Alistravia's son had chosen to stay in the imperium rather than leave for exile with the legion. He was still lore master though and despite his age could still hold his own if it came to a fight, Alistravia had insisted he stay aboard "the Pequad" as long as they were travelling as he had expert knowledge of most cultures and worlds though much he had to relearn and he had spent a lot of time studying this new much darker imperium.

"No" Alistravia responded "let him dream"

Velar nodded as the two fleets close in.

"All ships report ready" the admiral said as she approached

"Then begin the attack"

All five Estrellan ships leapt forward and before the Necrontyr cruisers could react the Pequad lit up the first Necrontyr cruiser with it's phase cannon. It shattered into two pieces and what remained of it's fighter cover shot forward engaging the five ships but this time the strategy was sound and the night scythes despite their advanced shields and weapons could not deal with the overwhelming flak fire and were obliterated with in several minutes. The fleet turned towards the second Necrontyr cruiser but it had already started draining power which was felt across the fleet and it had gotten wise to the new strategy and was pulling back into empty space in an effort draw attention away from the tomb ship.

"focus all fire on the cruiser" Alistravia said as torpedoes shot out towards their target "Do we have enough power to fire the cannon again?"

"Negative" The admiral said "the power drain has already forced us to switch back to the primary core which is only just sustaining us"

" _mother_ " came a vox message from Forin captain of the 12th and commander of the "Ishmael" " _let us deal with this cruiser, it will not be able to pursue you if it is dealing with us and it's shields will eventually break"_

"Forin has a point my lady!" the admiral stated "the core will have chance to recharge and we can focus everything on the tomb ship"

Alistravia nodded in agreement.

"very well break our pursuit and do what you can to recharge all systems, Forin don't put any ship in danger but keep that cruiser occupied"

" _yes mother"_ the response came and the vox cut off

The Pequad swung around and made a bee line for the tomb ship as the four escorts combined their fire to deter the cruiser from pursuing. Despite their drained power systems the four Estrellan ships unleashed everything they had and the green sphere of the Necrontyr ships shields could be seen constantly. As the Pequad approached the tomb ship she used power from the recharged core, charged her phase cannon and fired, the beam impacted the tomb ships shields but they did not shatter.

The admiral stood aghast as the readings flooded back to her.

"it absorbed the whole shot!"

"We have another problem" Velar said indicating movement outside the ship

Outside the beam that had been shot into the sun by the tomb ship disengaged and it swung around to face "the Pequad".

"All power to shields!" the admiral yelled as Necrontyr warriors appeared on the bridge. As the warriors of the maidens shield engaged along with the drones Alistravia shot up and grabbed her rifle...

Kalia had left the library and was making her way back to her quarters, she hadn't even noticed the ship had gone to battle-stations she had been so engrossed in her reading. She ran down the decks towards the lift but was met with an issue, ahead of her were several drones battling it out with Necrontyr warriors. She retreated back knowing there was a secondary lift used for cargo on the far side, it took her several minutes to to find it and she had to avoid the sounds of weapons fire as the crew battled the boarders. The ship shook with some kind of blast and she fell to the side grabbing for a hold and she found one in a humanoid figure to the side of her

"Thank you I …..." she looked up into the glowing green eyes of a Necron warrior and she stepped back

She backed off slowly as the thing gazed at her and shifted it's weapon up, she fell backwards as it advanced and the green glow in it's gun grew brighter. She scrambled to her feet and faced it but then she found herself, without consciously knowing she had even drawn it, holding her side arm at the ready.

Then she remembered what Rebus had said to her so many times when he had tried to train her to shoot.

" _hold your arms out stretched and hold the gun tight or you will lose it from the recoil, focus and take a deep breath then aim and pull the trigger"_

So she did as the Necron advanced now aiming it's gauss weapon at her, she followed the steps, took a deep breath and fired a shot directly at the head of the xenos. It's head snapped back from the impact and when it looked back down at her a smoking gap where she had shot it was slowly repairing but the thing did not care and it's weapon hummed as it aimed.

"Kalia get down!" A yell came and she threw her self to the floor as hundreds of bolter rounds passed over her head and impacted the Necron warrior that was split apart with the impacts. When the fire stopped she stood up to see Rebus with a full squad and a sergeant moving over to examine the remains of the Necron.

"Thank you" she said shyly

"It's my job remember" rebus grunted back to her and she hung her head

"I know you were just trying to get me to shoot at you but I am sorry I said what I said... your a good man"

Rebus turned to the sergeant.

"Continue to patrol the deck I'll escort Kalia to the bridge for now"

" _yes captain"_ he responded through the speaker in his helm

The squad had moved off around the corner and Rebus turned back to Kalia.

"your apology is not necessary but appreciated and that was a nice shot but you better be able to replicate that in our next training session"

"you said you didn't want to see me again?"

"I said that because I was frustrated with myself at being unable to get you to shoot at me but at least I can tell Gerik his idea failed" Rebus said

"wait... Gerik told you to threaten me!?" Kalia responded

"we can talk about that later for now lets get to the bridge"

Two of the maidens shield were dead while a third was badly wounded. Alistravia unleashed shots from her rifle putting gaping holes in the chests and heads of the Necron warriors as the battled the crew. She had chosen the rifle for it's anti armour capabilities but hadn't been sure if it would work against the living metal of the Necrontyr.

The tomb ship unleashed fire into the Pequad but the damage was minimal.

"I think the ship took so much damage it can't keep it's shields active and fire it's weapons at full strength at the same time" the admiral shouted

Then four smaller phase cannon beams shot past the Pequad and into the shields of the tomb ship.

"it's our escorts, Captain Forin reports the enemy cruiser has been crippled and could not pursue them"

Alistravia killed a Necron warrior attempting to climb the stairs to the command throne and turned to the admiral.

"Fire Everything At That Ship!"

It would go down in imperial records as warning to any fleet captain thinking of engaging a Necrontyr tomb ship. If it could hold off five Estrellan warships, one of those being primarchs command ship then the chances of imperial vessels even getting close to damaging one was unthinkable without massively overwhelming numbers.

All five ships unleashed everything from different kinds of torpedoes to multiple las beams, the Odysseus even found enough power for a second shot with it's phase cannon but like before it was absorbed. Then all of a sudden every Necron warrior disappeared along with the mains of the ones that had fallen.

"No Necrontyr warriors remain on the ship" The admiral said

"look" one of the human officers shouted

Outside the Necrontyr tomb ship was moving away and no longer firing any weapons, then in a bright flash of green it vanished leaving only empty space and the trails of the last few torpedoes that had been fired in the seconds before it vanished.

"My lady I am no longer detecting any Necrontyr ships in this system, I don't know how but they are gone" the admiral said

Rebus entered the bridge followed by Kalia and Alistravia approached him.

"Rebus arm the re-igniter and launch it into the star"

"yes mother" Rebus said moving off to one of the consoles "it will take a few minutes to launch and we must reposition the ship"

"send the coordinates to the helm" the admiral said

As the ship repositioned it's self Alistravia looked to Kalia.

"If you like I will arrange transport back to Terra for you when we reach Baal, you can assist Sankara and it will be much quieter for you on Terra"

"No" Kalia said her gun still in her hand "I am staying"

Alistravia nodded with understanding.

"Launching the re-igniter now" Rebus said

The crew watched as the torpedo shot towards the star and rebus tracked it's position.

"it's entered the corona and will pierce the surface soon"

"how can is survive inside a star?" Kalia asked

"it would take a long time to explain the technology but to put it in simple terms it is protected by shell that can only be destroyed at the core where the re-igniter will activate the moment it's shell disintegrates, then we will see if it works"

On th central hololith an image of the star appeared and tracked the torpedo, it entered the corona and moments later pierced the suns surface.

"it is carrying it's self forward through the convective zone but meeting resistance" Rebus stated as icon indicating the shell carrying the re-igniter

"will it make it in an active star?" Alistravia asked 

"I did what I could to allow it's momentum to continue inside the active star but I can make no guarantees mother" he said with some dismay and Alistravia placed her hand on her son's shoulder guard

"You tried Rebus and that's better than nothing"

It was odd to witness the way Alistravia had consoled her son like a mother proud of at least the attempt to do something great, she wondered if this was how the other primarchs looked upon their sons, was this the highest or lowest for of praise a primarch could give. A beeping broke Kalia's train of thought.

"the shell has made it into the radiative zone and is accelerating, impact with the core in 3...2...1..."

The icon indicating the shell disappeared as it entered the core.

"now we wait" Rebus said

"for what" Kalia said as the hololith shut down and they walked to windows that looked out at the star

For a few minutes there was nothing, then with a flash the star roared to life glowing brighter emitting solar flares. Rebus slid over to a console.

"Core fission is stable and the star is back on it's original life cycle" he said proudly

A cheer came from the bridge crew and Alistravia smiled.

"admiral take us back into orbit of the imperial world and begin repairs"

It took a week for the relief ships to arrive and a few days for everyone to be lifted to safety, the governor reported no more riots had occurred and shortly after the fleet resumed it's course towards Baal.

Alistravia was updating the High lords in the conference room once they were underway.

" _were you able to track the Necron ship"_

"no but I am sure it won't be the last we se of them" Alistravia responded

" _I am more interested in this technology you used to stabilise the star, could this be used as a weapon?"_ one of the High lords asked

Alistravia shrugged.

"It was designed to re-ignite dead stars"

" _my question was can be turned into a weapon, we could wipe out enemy occupied systems..."_

"not every technology needs to be perverted for such means my lord, too many times human kind has abused the power technology gives them... I am sure you can see the irony here" Alistravia said interrupting

" _no... not at all"_ another lord said _"but since only you possess this technology I doubt there is any chance of us convincing you of parting with it"_

Alistravia nodded.

"I will be arriving at Baal shortly and will contact you after I am done there"

The lords bowed and their image faded.

Kalia's shot was not on target but this time it at least hit.

"your improving some what but you still need work" Rebus said as the target reset

"I keep thinking about the Necrontyr and the fact we couldn't beat them, I though Estrellan's were technologically more advanced"

"We are compared to some... but we discovered a long time ago that technology does not equal ultimate power... like all knowledge... it is simply a small piece of a greater puzzle"

Kalia didn't know what he meant but she could hear the foreboding in his words, she straightened her back, aimed and fired...


End file.
